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Glowing space mice show where quantum dots lodge

published by New Scientist
May 16, 2014

These images show mice injected with nanoparticles called quantum dots – light-sensitive, semiconducting particles just a few nanometres in diameter. The particles can be seen though the skin when the mice are exposed to UV light using a technique called inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy.

Warren Chan of the University of Toronto in Canada found that the concentration of these particles in the skin directly correlates with both the injected dose and their accumulation in other organs. His team hopes that this discovery could be used to better predict how nanoparticles behave in the body.